1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic locking retractor suitable for use in a vehicle seat belt system and producing little unpleasant noise when winding the webbing into the retractor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a vehicle seat belt equipped with a so-called automatic locking retractor, the webbing wound up on the retractor is pulled out and worn by the occupant. The webbing is then allowed to be wound back on the retractor over any extra length thereof. When the occupant tries to pull out the webbing again, the webbing is restrained from any further release. A variety of different types of such automatic locking retractors has been proposed and actually used to date (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,412,952 issued Nov. 26, 1968 to Wohlert et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,698 issued June 6, 1972 to Fisher, U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,163 issued Mar. 16, 1976 to Yoshio Hayashi et al, etc.).
Many of such prior art automatic locking retractors are of such a type that they are each constructed of a pair of cog wheels integral with a take-up spindle, on which a webbing is releasably wound up, and a lock lever normally urged or biased in a direction capable of engaging with the cog wheels and controlled by a cam plate.
An automatic locking retractor of the above type is however accompanied by an inconvenience that an unpleasant noise is produced due to contact between the cog wheels and lock lever particularly when winding the webbing into the retractor, because the lock lever is normally urged in the direction capable of engaging with the cog wheels. Since these cog wheels and lock lever have to be made of a metal as forces are exerted thereto, it is considerably difficult to lower the contacting noise between these metal parts.
It has been proposed, with a view toward solving the above problem, to interpose a yielding or buffer member such as a resin parts between the lock lever and its matching cog wheels. This has however developed another problem that impact noises are in turn produced between the metal parts and the yielding or buffer member.